4 ms·

Seems to me that iTunes captured the market because of the amazing integration with music devices and not the price point. Until someone beats them at that, I

Seems to me that iTunes captured the market because of the amazing integration with music devices and not the price point. Until someone beats them at that, I think things will continue as they are. I'm not an Apple fanboy by any means, but nobody else has produced a device that makes it so easy to find, buy, and listen to music on the go. Amazon's Cloud Player is a good start, since it eliminates having to load the music on to the device, but the player still needs some polish.

gigawatt 16y ago
I buy music almost exclusively through Amazon now solely because of the DRM nonsense iTunes puts on its files. I have several albums that, when I try to play them on my media computer through iTunes home sharing, gives me the "This album is not authorized to play on this computer. Please deactivate one of your authorized computers to add it to this one." Problem is, that 2 of the authorized computers are in the scrap heap now, and the other ones I still use. Whatever convenience buying music directly through my iPhone would offer is more than canceled out by this inconvenience. I'll admit that I'm not the kind of music consumer that buys single mp3s though — full album or nothing for me — so I'm biased in that way.
- mediamaker 16y ago
  maybe "deauthorize all" and re-auth the computers you still use
  - gigawatt 16y ago
    I'm sure there's a quick fix for the iTunes purchased albums I still have, but the long-term solution is definitely to avoid purchasing from iTunes. For me, at least.
    - duskwuff 16y ago
      As the iTunes Music Store hasn't used DRM since January 2009, no long-term solution is necessary. Just don't travel back in time and you'll be fine. :)
      - gigawatt 16y ago
        I'm writing this from 2007! Anyway, thanks for the responses. I was embarrassingly unaware of the changes. Though maybe the moral of the story is that DRM is a good way to lose a customer who won't come back under any circumstances if there's an equal service available without it.
- ugh 16y ago
  The iTunes Music Store hasn't been using DRM for a long time. You can also upgrade your music with DRM to non-DRM. versions but it will cost you money. (This is exactly the reason why I didn't buy any music with DRM. I don't know how you could ever do that.) Here is how you can deauthorize all computers associated with your iTunes account (the third list of instructions): http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1420 http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1420 It's a bit hidden but it's easy to do.
- allwein 16y ago
  Apple no longer applies DRM at all in their music store. It still does in the video store though.
  - lukifer 16y ago
    I would buy way, WAY more iTunes video if I could re-compress the video to any format I want, and share it with friends. (I realize that the latter is highly undesirable to content holders, but video has always been highly social among my friends, with frequent sharing of DVDs and such.)
Kylekramer 16y ago
Amazon is positioning themselves pretty well as the iTunes of Android, though. Most phones have Amazon MP3 preinstalled and the buying experience is basically as smooth as you'd like. It is like iTunes, but better, cause you don't ever have to use iTunes.
scrrr 16y ago
What if amazon simply made a good itunes clone with simple export to ipod etc.? Many established businesses can be attacked by offering the same, only better or cheaper. Or isnt it as obvious as i think?
- neuroelectronic 16y ago
  http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200154260 http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=2... Not exactly an iTunes competetor. Maybe they're purposefully avoiding competeing directly with iTunes by offering a completely different type of expirence.
atacrawl 16y ago
Seems to me that iTunes captured the market because of the amazing integration with music devices and not the price point. Completely agree with this, but I would two more factors -- a relevant selection from the outset, and the reliability and legitimacy of iTMS.
tseabrooks 16y ago
Am I the only one that hates the way iTunes interfaces with my iPhone? iTunes is probably the single most unpleasant thing about owning an iPhone. The iPhone works like a dream as long as I NEVER need to connect it to my PC. Every time I need to connect it for updating, backup, restore, add new music (Usually that I've bought from another service[Amazon]) it's a miserable experience. If there was a way to use my iPad and iPhone without ever needed to connect to a desktop computer I'd feel like I won a million bucks.
- 2muchcoffeeman 16y ago
  iTunes is not a great piece of software, but it does some pretty nice things for you. Backups of your phone, store integration, fairly powerful play list manager, syncing. All in one place. Over the air updates are nice I guess, but how would I backup and restore 30Gb of data to my phone over the air?
orijing 16y ago
Do you think Antitrust pressures will force Apple to accept competing services for the iOS? (Amazon Cloud Player on the iPhone/iPod/iPad)

gigawatt 16y ago

I buy music almost exclusively through Amazon now solely because of the DRM nonsense iTunes puts on its files. I have several albums that, when I try to play them on my media computer through iTunes home sharing, gives me the "This album is not authorized to play on this computer. Please deactivate one of your authorized computers to add it to this one." Problem is, that 2 of the authorized computers are in the scrap heap now, and the other ones I still use. Whatever convenience buying music directly through my iPhone would offer is more than canceled out by this inconvenience. I'll admit that I'm not the kind of music consumer that buys single mp3s though — full album or nothing for me — so I'm biased in that way.

mediamaker 16y ago
maybe "deauthorize all" and re-auth the computers you still use
- gigawatt 16y ago
  I'm sure there's a quick fix for the iTunes purchased albums I still have, but the long-term solution is definitely to avoid purchasing from iTunes. For me, at least.
  - duskwuff 16y ago
    As the iTunes Music Store hasn't used DRM since January 2009, no long-term solution is necessary. Just don't travel back in time and you'll be fine. :)
    - gigawatt 16y ago
      I'm writing this from 2007! Anyway, thanks for the responses. I was embarrassingly unaware of the changes. Though maybe the moral of the story is that DRM is a good way to lose a customer who won't come back under any circumstances if there's an equal service available without it.
ugh 16y ago
The iTunes Music Store hasn't been using DRM for a long time. You can also upgrade your music with DRM to non-DRM. versions but it will cost you money. (This is exactly the reason why I didn't buy any music with DRM. I don't know how you could ever do that.) Here is how you can deauthorize all computers associated with your iTunes account (the third list of instructions): http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1420 http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1420 It's a bit hidden but it's easy to do.
allwein 16y ago
Apple no longer applies DRM at all in their music store. It still does in the video store though.
- lukifer 16y ago
  I would buy way, WAY more iTunes video if I could re-compress the video to any format I want, and share it with friends. (I realize that the latter is highly undesirable to content holders, but video has always been highly social among my friends, with frequent sharing of DVDs and such.)

Kylekramer 16y ago

Amazon is positioning themselves pretty well as the iTunes of Android, though. Most phones have Amazon MP3 preinstalled and the buying experience is basically as smooth as you'd like. It is like iTunes, but better, cause you don't ever have to use iTunes.

scrrr 16y ago

What if amazon simply made a good itunes clone with simple export to ipod etc.? Many established businesses can be attacked by offering the same, only better or cheaper. Or isnt it as obvious as i think?

neuroelectronic 16y ago
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200154260 http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=2... Not exactly an iTunes competetor. Maybe they're purposefully avoiding competeing directly with iTunes by offering a completely different type of expirence.

atacrawl 16y ago

Seems to me that iTunes captured the market because of the amazing integration with music devices and not the price point. Completely agree with this, but I would two more factors -- a relevant selection from the outset, and the reliability and legitimacy of iTMS.

tseabrooks 16y ago

Am I the only one that hates the way iTunes interfaces with my iPhone? iTunes is probably the single most unpleasant thing about owning an iPhone. The iPhone works like a dream as long as I NEVER need to connect it to my PC. Every time I need to connect it for updating, backup, restore, add new music (Usually that I've bought from another service[Amazon]) it's a miserable experience. If there was a way to use my iPad and iPhone without ever needed to connect to a desktop computer I'd feel like I won a million bucks.

2muchcoffeeman 16y ago
iTunes is not a great piece of software, but it does some pretty nice things for you. Backups of your phone, store integration, fairly powerful play list manager, syncing. All in one place. Over the air updates are nice I guess, but how would I backup and restore 30Gb of data to my phone over the air?

orijing 16y ago

Do you think Antitrust pressures will force Apple to accept competing services for the iOS? (Amazon Cloud Player on the iPhone/iPod/iPad)